Thread: Observatory

Welcome to the forum Astrobuilder.

Pictures would help here but my question is how did you arrive at a figure of needing to support 350Kgs? Is this based on how many people are going to be on the platform at any one time? Astronomy equipment is not going to weigh that much.

Hi Geoff,

That's right, its based on 3 adults (or 2 adults and a couple of kids!), the astronomy gear weighs about 70kgs all up.

I'll try and attach a basic drawing of what I have in mind later on.

Trav.

What is the shed construction?

How are you going to isolate the telescope from the platform?

The normal practice is to have a brick or concrete column isolated from the floor/slab and, in your case, the platform.

Originally Posted by snowyskiesau

How are you going to isolate the telescope from the platform?

The normal practice is to have a brick or concrete column isolated from the floor/slab and, in your case, the platform.

i made mine with an 18" cardboard tube taken from a constuction site, dont know what they use it for, but its real thick hardy cardboard. filled with concrete and rebar and slip formed it up till i got the desired height, in my case its about 2.8 meters high.
if your thinking about doing any astrophotography whatsover this is a must. and yes it needs to be isolated from the slab as the slab just ends up being a big vibration conductor and will pick up vibrations from cars etc from miles away and make your scope shake like crazy (relatively!) ruining your exposures.

of course this is all moot if all your doing is a bit of moon gazing with a small apeture scope. although you say your gear is 70Kg's im guessing its at least a 10" SCT, in that case, start digging a hole for a pole.

gunna put a dome on it? theres a mob in qld that make em with automation, cool stuff. how can you not have an observatory without a big white dome.

Thanks for that guys. Sorry for the late reply, work has been hectic. I haven't got that drawing done yet - I'll do it on tonight's shift if I get a chance. In the meantime...

I hadn't considered it necessary to isolate the telescope, its used for visual only at this point and it wouldn't be hard to install a pier later - the shed is on stumps. I'm hoping that the platform will be steady enough for visual use only.

A potential problem I have is that the speed bracing in the roof is going to get in the way. Excuse my naivety, and I know its hard to comment without seeing the plans for the shed, but is it generally a big deal to relocated the bracing to a more convenient position? It would need to be moved about a meter to one side, shortening it.

Dreilly - yeah its a beautiful 11" SCT. Unfortunately at our new house the horizon is very limited - if I could pull this platform with sliding roof panel idea off somehow, it would solve a heap of dramas for me as I get a lot of organised visits from people interested in astronomy. The big white dome would be specky but it'll make this project a little too pricey! I take your point though!! You seem to be up to speed on this sort of thing - would this platform be suitable for visual, albeit deep space, observing? I don't expect it to be rock solid, but steady enough - what do you reckon?

Even for visual use and not photography, you will have to isolate the telescope mount from the rest of the building as the smallest vibration will be transferred the telescope rendering it unusable.

As dreilly suggested, a reinforced concrete pier using sonatube as the form is the most popular solution to this problem. You're looking at a pier height of nearly 3 metres (1.5 metre platfrom height plus the height of the pire from the platform floor to where the telescope mounts, 1200mm - 1500mm so you have to consider a solid base for the pier - say 600mm cube of concrete.
There are a lot of sites that cover the requirements of building a usable telescope mount. If you aren't already a member, it's worth joining iceinspace.com.au as there are several members there who have built their own observatories from the ground up or rahter from below ground up!

Astrobuilder,

I just want to come and have a look through your telescope - a 11" SCT would have to be awesome!!! I am so jealous.

Hi Grunto, yep it is awesome - even in the permanent twilight of the city lights. I'll let you know once I've got something sorted out so you can come and have a gander. At the moment it is pretty much unusable (bugger - its a good time of year for stargazing too with lots of good stuff near the zenith!)

Yiu're right - plenty of good observing at the moment. Let me know when your telescope is up a running - I would like love to take a look.

R/-